


Michael's Mess Up that Ends the Apocalypse (Maybe)

by orphan_account



Series: Accidentally Avoiding the End of the World (and other ways Winchester and friends don't quite mess up) [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Abusive John Winchester, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Awkward Dates, Awkward Flirting, Awkward Kissing, Depressed Sam, I Tried, I just wanted this to happen so I wrote it and here we are stuck with my shitty writing, I'm doing my best, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, John Winchester's A+ Parenting, M/M, Mistaken Identity, Out of Character, Past Jessica Moore/Sam Winchester, Poor Life Choices, Poor Sam, Sad Sam, Very awkward first meeting, but - Freeform, but they're all turning out very OOC, everybody is out of character, except Adam but that's because he has no character to be into, honestly, i'm trying to write them in character i swear, it was the one thing I wanted but couldn't find so I wrote it myself, literally nobody asked for this, oh well, poor children, they don't know how to interact very well
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-08
Updated: 2018-06-24
Packaged: 2019-02-12 03:18:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 16,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12950157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Sam Winchester grew up loyal to the dream his dead mother had for him. She wanted her boys to be normal.Michael is loyal to his father, who may as well be dead with all he's tried to contact them.(AKA that one Sam/Michael fic literally nobody asked for where the first ten chapters are horrible because I was just figuring out my writing style but I swear it gets a little better as you go along)





	1. Sam

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A brief look into Sam's life before we can start on any actual plot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright. I understand that I have another story but I've lost interest in it for now, I'll go back to it if I get time.
> 
> This story is being written for two reasons;
> 
> 1) Inspiration hit and I couldn't ignore.
> 
> 2) There is most definitely not enough Sam/Michael fics in the world
> 
> So, here goes nothing. Sorry if the romance is ever off (none yet, but eventually) because I honestly have no clue what I'm doing with that. I'm bad with romance. I'll try though.

\--------------------------

Sam Winchester is curled on scratchy sheets and dirty pillows. It isn't his place to question his father, but he does it anyway. 

John is...... something. Sam isn't sure what yet, but the red mark on his face is a step in figuring it out.

\--------------------------

John's yelling has become almost unintelligible at this point, and it's all Sam can do not to point that out to him. Another flaw in the tapestry that is John Winchester.

Sam knows that would be a hypocritical thing to say though, because for every flaw of John's there's three of Sam's.

\--------------------------

It's dark when he wakes. Three in the morning. Sam sighs and goes back to sleep.

\--------------------------

Acceptance letter in his grip and backpack slung over his shoulder, Sam Winchester leaves for Stanford.

\--------------------------

Jess is great in so many ways. She just kind of gets Sam in a way he didn't think was possible until she came along. She's never had issues with her family like Sam did, but she understands the need for space and freedom better than anybody he's met and he loves her for it.

\--------------------------

Sam huffs at Jess as she drags him to a Halloween party. She's great and he loves her, but sometimes he kind of wishes she would stop taking him to such crowded places.

\--------------------------

Jess. 

He couldn't quite think straight because all of his thoughts were focused on the fact that Jess was dead and- _ohmygodjessisdeadhowdidthathappenitcouldhavebeenpreventedifhehadjustlistenedtohisinstinctsbutherefusedandnowjessisdead-_

He just needs a minute to calm down.

\--------------------------

It's great to have his older brother back, classic rock and all. Dean smells like cigarette smoke and old leather, it reminds Sam of times when he wasn't so confused.

\--------------------------

John is back, the reunion includes hugs and a few awkward explanations.

They lose him.

\--------------------------

Between one breathe and the next John is gone.

John is gone and Dean thinks it should be Sam.

\--------------------------

Sam is scared. He really misses Dean, but there are people who need his help and he's pretty sure Andy got the message through.

Probably.

Hopefully.

\--------------------------

Waking up after dying is an odd experience. Sam knows he was dead, no matter what Dean says. 

\--------------------------

Dean has a year to live all because his baby brother is a screw up who can't keep from dying.

Sam wishes he had stayed dead.

\--------------------------

Tuesdays are the worst. Dean is dying and there's nothing anybody can do.

He just wants out.

\--------------------------

Nevermind. Tuesdays can stay, but fuck Wednesdays.

\--------------------------

It's kind of an odd experience watching his brother be torn apart by hellhounds.

First is shock because- _nodeancan'tbedeadpleasehe'sallihave-_

Then there's the realization that Dean is actually dead. No trickster is going to be able to reverse this.

Sam half regrets being born.

\--------------------------

Ruby is a change of pace. Dean was fast, sure, but Ruby is the speed of light compared to Dean.

No breaks, no chances to mourn. Just a mission that he needs to work for.

\--------------------------

Dean's resurrection is like a smack in the face. This is his brother. 

Sam doesn't really care if it's a monster or not, it's his brother and Sam just really misses the old leather smell.

\--------------------------


	2. Michael

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The previous chapter except from Michael's perspective

\--------------------------

Michael watches as Sam and Dean Winchester are raced away from their burning house.

Pity their mother had to die, she'd been taking good care of his vessel.

\--------------------------

The first time John hits Sam is hard for everybody. It leaves Sam crying silently in his bed and Dean seething at their father.

Michael wishes he could go to heal Sam.

\--------------------------

John and Sam fight all the time. It surprises nobody anymore when unintelligible voices ring loudly from the motel room, often accompanied by the slamming of a door and a yell of "Get back here!"

It hurts Michael to watch because he remembers fights like that between his siblings after their father left. Mostly between Gabriel and Raphael.

Michael misses his brother.

\--------------------------

Sam wakes at odd hours and Michael is always there to guide the boy back to sleep.

If he stays to watch for a while then nobody needs to know but him.

\--------------------------

Michael keeps Sam from harm as be makes his way to Stanford. It's what Mary would have wanted for the boy and that's what matters.

\--------------------------

The demon guarding Sam introduces him to a woman called Jessica Moore, she's sweet and Sam likes her.

More importantly she's doomed to die, but Michael refuses to separate them when she makes Sam that happy.

\--------------------------

Jessica was good for Sam. She forced him to socialize and that was something Michael had noticed that humans needed.

\--------------------------

Michael regrets allowing Sam and Jessica to become close because her death is causing Sam to sleep and eat and talk less.

It pains Michael to admit it, but this is one thing that couldn't be avoided no matter the pain it caused Sam.

\--------------------------

Sam and Dean are closer than ever now that they're on the road together. 

Michael remembers a time when he and Lucifer were just as close and can only hope this relationship doesn't end the same.

\--------------------------

John Winchester has finally returned to his children. 

Michael hates the senior Winchester for a moment because the man leaves just as soon as they find him, leaving Sam and Dean on their own once again.

\--------------------------

John's death comes as a relief because Michael knows he can't hurt either child anymore.

Dean's bitterness at Sam isn't quite worth the life it cost.

\--------------------------

Sam does well through the bloodbath that Azazel set up. Not once does Sam kill anybody and Michael is proud.

He's proud until it gets Sam killed.

\--------------------------

Michael doesn't know if he should be relieved or terrified that Dean sold his soul. 

Sam is alive, but he may not be able to function without Dean.

\--------------------------

Michael is extremely pissed off at whoever it is that stuck Sam in a timeloop.

He can't interfere, but he can certainly imagine all of the ways he could kill the thing.

\--------------------------

He takes it back. The timeloop was better than watching Sam turn into a monster.

If this is what Sam is going to become after Dean's deal then Michael may end up having a slight problem.

\--------------------------

Michael can feel the pain from Sam as he watches Dean get torn to bits by hellhounds. 

Not that Michael blames him. It feels a lot like when he cast Lucifer from heaven, a mix of guilt, regret, and pain.

\--------------------------

Ruby is one thing that Michael can't wait to get his hands on.

He wants to wring her neck, but he's not supposed to interfere yet. 

\--------------------------

Dean is rescued from hell by Castiel.

Castiel is odd, but that's fine with Michael because Castiel is one of his favorites. He follows orders and leads one of the strongest garrisons in heaven, but he also holds a kind of innocence that Michael wishes he could have.

Michael recognizes the things he feels now as the calm before the storm. He only hopes the storm isn't too bad.

\--------------------------


	3. Samhain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sam is far more depressing than I meant to make him... oops?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really don't mean to write these as snapshots but that's kind of what's happening. I'll roll with it for now, hopefully I can stop that soon though because this thing kind of needs a plot.
> 
> Also, jfc I did not mean to make Sam that depressing. He needs some chill.

Sam is gripped with complete and utter relief at seeing Dean alive. Everything will be okay now because Dean's here to make it okay.

He doesn't know how he came back and Sam can see the suspicion in his eyes as he recounts the story of digging himself from his grave. Sam understands the suspicion, of course he does, but it hurts to look at because Sam knows he didn't do it and they don't seem to believe him.

\-----------------------------

It's a long while after Dean's resurrection that Sam meets Castiel.

Sam had always believed in angels, he just assumed that they weren't really interfering. He was right on that it seems because he's told that angels haven't walked the Earth for quite some time.

Castiel refuses to shake his hand. Which, yeah, that stings but he can understand. Sam is the boy with the demon blood and Castiel is an angel.

\-----------------------------

They're supposed to be stopping a seal from breaking, but the angles are rather distracting.

'We could destroy the town' wasn't really a suggestion that Sam felt like following, especially when it meant killing innocent people. If the angels thought it was a good idea maybe Sam should as well, but even with the demon blood running through his veins he's kept his morals. Morals which tell him killing an entire town is wrong.

So, Sam talks Dean out of leveling a town (and is that how bad it's gotten? For Dean to even consider it is a testament to how far they've fallen trying to fight this). 

\-----------------------------

Dean is afraid of Sam.

It isn't obvious unless you know Dean, unless he practically raised you, but there's fear and suspicion in his eyes when he looks at Sam.

Sam understands. He's a freak. A monster. 

Maybe Dean should've listened to dad.

\-----------------------------

Sam can't breathe right now. He can feel his lungs working, feels the way his chest moves, but it burns.

He doesn't understand this time because all he knows is the pain in his chest and the burning in his lungs.

All he wants is for the pain to stop and for Dean to stop giving him that look, the one that means he thinks Sam's a monster or a freak. Sure, Sam can agree with him, but the obvious fear and suspicion in his eyes is what throws Sam for a loop.

Dean has every right to look at Sam like that, but that doesn't give Sam the right to complain.


	4. Surprises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael gets some startling news and we may be seeing the beginning of an actual plot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look, no more snapshots!
> 
> Also, wow this is a short chapter.... Please don't kill me...?

Michael is going over Naomi's assessments when Raphael walks in. 

Raphael is a good brother, strict, reasonable, and willing to follow orders. Those are also the reasons that Castiel is his favorite. Castiel has fire in him, unlike Raphael. Michael wants a brother in arms, not a loyal dog.

He doesn't voice these thoughts.

"Brother," Raphael begins with a respectful nod, "Your vessel has succeeded in stopping Samhain's rising."

The lack of information bothers Michael but his place is to give orders, not complain about the way he gets information.

"Of course, I expected no less," Sam would've done everything in his power to stop a seal from breaking.

Raphael reluctantly agrees, "Yes, I suppose Dean Winchester lives up to his name as the righteous man."

If Michael had an eyebrow to raise at his brother then he would. Sadly, Michael doesn't have eyebrows so he settles for making a questioning noise.

"What does Dean Winchester have to do with my vessel?"

Michael can feel the shock from Raphael, "Brother, Dean Winchester is your vessel."

This, Michael feels, is going to be a long day.


	5. The musings of Dean Winchester

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean muses on his brother and what the future could hold

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter because the Net Neutrality vote is happening tomorrow and I'm not sure how that's going to go.

The air around the brothers is tense and awkward. Dean is unsure how to react to anything anymore. Apocalypses and angels? He doesn't know if he can deal with these things without alcohol, but he'll wait until they stop for the night before he starts on the drinks. 

The problem is, Sam scares him sometimes. It's something they inherited from their dad. Dean had it, the intensity like fire.

Sam's was worse in a way, because if Dean was fire - passionate and loud and angry - Sam was ice - breathtaking and beautiful but so cold and unexpectedly deadly.

They both had the intensity of their father, but Sam's is cold and terrifying in a way their dad's never was.

Sam could bring the world to it's knees if he wanted. With a wave of his hand he could command armies. A word and people would trip over themselves to serve him.

Dean isn't sure if Sam knows. Isn't sure if his brother understands the complete and total power he could hold if he wanted to.

Dean isn't sure if he wants Sam to understand.

Understanding means being left behind while Sam goes on to bigger and better things than the brother who started the breaking of the seals.

Dean voices none of this and keeps driving.


	6. Fallen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Anna has fallen and Sam finally meets Michael.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look, an update! It's good to see you guys again and I hope you're doing alright. Now, onwards to the chapter!

Sam and Dean are stopped at some middle-of-nowhere motel for the night, getting ready to go to sleep when Sam gets a text.

It's from Ruby.

A short conversation and some french fries later Sam has all the info he needs to go help this Anna that both sides are after. Convincing Dean takes something just short of a miracle but he manages.

Before he's even aware of it, they've driven all the way to Ohio because of information he got from a demon. Maybe that should bother Sam a little more.

Sam doesn't have time to cotemplate on his own skewed moral compass because the girl- Anna, he corrects himself- is gone and they don't know where she is. They both agree that the church is a safe bet considering she has demons after her.

Finding her is a relief because now they can help. Anna doesn't appear to want help from the abomination that is Samuel Winchester, so he leaves this one to Dean. 

His brother is extraordinarily good at extracting the frightened girl- woman- from her hiding spot but the angels and demons all ambush before they can get her to safety. Sam wants to say he prays for help, but he's all but given up on prayer at this point.

According to Castiel, Anna is an abomination. An angel fallen from heaven. Sam wants to understand, wants to know why they're hunting her like an animal just for wanting to feel something. He thinks he would've done the same in a similar situation. 

Even so, now isn't a time to be worrying about the angels' lack of moral compass either. Now is a time to be getting Anna somewhere safe.

Finding out that Castiel handed Anna over to heaven is like a punch to the gut because this was somebody Sam had promised to protect and he had failed. Dean doesn't seem as upset as he maybe should. Sure, angels could be dicks, but they were still angels. God's creations who most certainly didn't deserve to be hunted down for being more human than the rest of them.

The walk helps. Old cars and the smell of motor oil are comforting and Sam can't help but relax a bit and the familiar surroundings.

Fluttering wings erases any previous comfort Sam felt as he spins around, demon knife uselessly ready.

"Samuel Winchester," the voice speaks quietly, calmly. His voice is silky and authoritative in a way Sam's is not.

"Who's asking?" Sam bites out, hand clenching around the demon knife.

"My name is Michael, I am here to speak with you."


	7. First Meetings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael and Sam meet officially for the first time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DOUBLE UPDATE GUYS!!!!!

Michael isn't sure why he did it, all he knows is that one second he's in Heaven, getting things ready for the apocalypse, and next thing he knows he's standing in front of an extremely tense Sam Winchester.

"Oh, and what do you want to talk about?" Sam's grip still hasn't loosened on the demon knife, but it appears to bring him comfort and Michael refuses to be the one to take that from him.

"Anna," he says. The name seems to shock Sam because he's half-dropped the knife for all of a second before he once again tightens his grip.

"Where is she?" Michael, in a very human show of emotions, heaves a sigh when the question is asked.

"Heaven," he answers shortly, "That isn't what I meant when I said I wished to speak of her."

Sam looks unsure how to respond for a second before he apparently decides to let Michael lead the conversation, "Go on."

"Why" Michael begins, "Are you so desperate to protect her?" Part of Michael is jealous that the younger Winchester doesn't feel the need to protect him the way he tries to protect Anna. Jealous because Anna has gotten more attention from Sam Winchester in twenty-four hours than Michael has received in his lifetime (he knows its ridiculous, but he can't help the feeling of possessiveness that crops up when he sees Sam protecting somebody like Anna who would kill him as soon as look at him).

Sam blinks, obviously not expecting that question, "I promised her I would help her. Not out loud, but I promised myself I would."

Michael is happy with the honesty and almost feels himself smiling- another very human gesture- but stops himself before it can manifest itself on his face, "Okay. I shall return."

He does. Michael comes back with Anna who has no memory of what happened but has her Grace fully restored. He watches from afar as Sam smiles happily at seeing her alive and well, half-wishing that smile was directed at him and not Anna. 

Sam walks back out to the middle of the yard and spins around expectantly, "Michael?" his voice is tentative and soft like he hopes for an answer but won't be surprised if he never received one.

"Yes, Samuel?"

Sam's smile widens considerably when he sees Michael which causes his vessel's heart to stutter for a second, "Thank you," he says and, with his long, warm arms, Sam Winchester drags Michael into a hug.

Michael freezes for a second, unused to human gestures of affection, but slowly brings a hand to lay gently on the younger Winchester's shoulder in an awkward manner, "It was of no trouble."

"Yeah," Sam says, "Maybe it wasn't. I just wanted to say Thank you."


	8. Hell is in the Writing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean is forced to revisit his days in Hell after the angels capture Alistair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this is my longest chapter to date. Michael is gone once again but Dean finds out about Sam's powers so.....
> 
> Also! I'm planning a sequel, just as a heads-up. You don't have to check it out when it goes up but it'll be there if you want to read it.

Dean is eating a burger in some middle-of-nowhere diner while Sam talks to Bobby on the phone.

"Yeah. No, we'll check it out. Thanks, Bobby." The phone snaps shut with a click and Dean raises an eyebrow at his brother.

"So?"

Sam wrinkles his nose in disgust, "Can you swallow before you start talking?" He then shakes his head, "Nevermind. Bobby found this thing in Wyoming, nobody's died in a week."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Dean's still chewing, mostly just to piss Sam off.

"Normally, yeah, but get this- a patient with terminal cancer? He just walked out of hospice. Another guy, a Mr. Jim Jenkins, got shot by a mugger, point blank to the heart, and just got up perfectly fine." Sam is scrolling through his computer as he says this, probably reading it from a newspaper, and looks just as confused as Dean feels.

"Alright, looks like we got ourselves a case."

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Doesn't look like it's demon deals, Sam." Their original theory had been replaced with even more confusion after questioning Jenkins about his 'death.'

"No, it doesn't. What else could it be though?"

Dean shrugs, unwrapping his burger, "No clue."

Sam frowns, "Who was the last person to die?"

"Some kid, Cole Griffith, died ten days ago." Dean can see where his brother is going with this and he doesn't like it. At all. He just wants to eat his burger in peace.

"Why don't we head to the kid's grave, try to talk to him?"

Dean sighs, so much for enjoying his food.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Digging up the grave yielded about zero results. No ghost showed up to yell at them about it or fling them against some headstones or anything. To top the whole thing off, they got caught.

"Looks like something satanic." The officer had his gun and flashlight pointed at them and was very insistent that they come into the station with him.

"Look," Sam started, "We'll just be going."

"You won't be going anywhere." The flashlight and gun both drop as the man's eyes turn white. Dean feels a sudden flash of dreadful realization.

"Alistair."

"Got it in one, Dean." Alistair flung his hand toward Dean, flinging him against Cole's headstone. He blacks out for a second but when he comes back Alistair is gone and Sam is crouching where Dean landed.

"You okay, Dean?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. What happened?" His headache is subsiding and, now that he's paying attention to exactly where Alistair's body is, it looks an awful lot like something threw the demon back into the tree.

"I don't know. He tried to throw me and when it didn't work he smoked out." Dean practically raised Sam and he knows when he's being lied to by his little brother.

"If you're gonna keep secrets, Sam, do it. Just don't treat me like an idiot."

Sam's face goes blank and then he blinks like he's confused, "I'm not keeping secrets, Dean."

Dean doesn't believe him, but now isn't the time to point that out. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pamela's funeral hurts and Dean can't help but blame himself for her death. He's sure if they tried they could've avoided having to drag her into this. Sam doesn't help matters by acting nonchalant about it. Like he doesn't care.

Maybe he doesn't. Dean's not quite sure where his brother stands on anything anymore.

Uriel and Castiel await them at the motel room. Uriel is unsympathetic as always but Castiel is trying and that comforts him a little.

They've captured Alistair and need Dean to use the skills he learned in Hell to get information from him.

Skills.

Dean doesn't want to do this but if angels are being killed then they need to know who's behind it.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The torture session doesn't go well. Alistair refuses to give information on who the angel killer is and seems to prefer spending his time bringing up memories from Dean's time in Hell.

Eventually, Alistair escapes and Dean is passed out on the floor from oxygen deprivation. 

The first thing he sees after waking up is Alistair pinned to the wall. At first, he thinks it's Cas, but no. Cas is hooked on one of the room's many chains.

Looking around leads Dean to the discovery that Sam is the one pinning Alistair to the wall. Sam. It's not okay in the least, but Dean can't help the relief when he sees Sam's powers kill Alistair. 

Dean gets up to help Cas down. Cas who looks like his world has been shattered by something and Dean hopes it wasn't Sammy's fault.

Sam looks afraid for a second, but Dean just sends him the 'we are having this conversation later' look and continues to help Cas up.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The motel feels crowded even though it's just the two of them.

"Sam."

"Dean, please, I-"

Dean doesn't want excuses, he wants answers, "No. You promised me, Sam. You said you were done with this psychic crap. Why? What did you get from lying to me?"

"Nothing, Dean."

"Then why?"

"I-" Sam takes a deep breath as if preparing for the worst, "I didn't want you to think I was a freak or something Dean. I just wanted to help and these powers? They let me do that. I saved a little girl who was possessed because I didn't have to hurt her to get rid of the demon- Dean! I can help people. Isn't that what we do?"

"Not like this, Sam. We don't help people like this. Those powers of yours? They're demon powers, Sam! This isn't how we do things. Not now. Not ever."

"Dean-"

"I'm going out." The words are blunt and Dean knows that they stung. He has his coat slung over his shoulders before the door has finished closing behind him.

This case was tough. Maybe he shouldn't have taken it out on Sam like that but, after Alistair and reminders of Hell, he didn't need this- they didn't need this.

Later. They'll deal with this later. But for now, Dean is getting drunk.


	9. It's in Your Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam Wesson and Dean Smith hunt a ghost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyyyyyyyy
> 
> I'm back.

Sam Wesson has nightmares. Horrible, horrible nightmares full of monsters and death and people he thinks he should know. The nightmares are flashy, he can't make out what's going on between the blood and screams. Waking up is even worse because most mornings his head hurts so terribly he can't think straight or his nose is bleeding. Sometimes it's both and no matter what it makes him want to scream. His therapist says they could be manifestations of regular fears in his everyday life but he doubts it. Why would is fear of getting fired show up as a werewolf? Maybe it's a therapist thing and that's just what they all say. Besides, no matter how much he likes his therapist all she can do is listen to him talk about whatever it was he dreamt about the night before.

Of course, working in tech support means his friends think his dreams are the most interesting thing to ever happen. Ian finds the dreams especially interesting and just about tackles Sam in his hunt for information about his "awesome monster hunting" dreams. He laughs about it afterward- "Decapitating vampires?"- and teases Sam incessantly until one of them is forced to answer the phone or something more interesting grabs his attention.

Things take an odd turn when Sam meets Dean Smith in the elevator. Smith looks like one of the men from his dreams- nightmares- and asking him if they know each other yields an awkward no from the other man. Sam takes this for the dismissal it is and finally exits on his floor.

Paul is acting off the next day. Not cool-guy-turned-psychopath off, more like dude-what-the-hell off. It's not even obvious until Ian is called up to HR and Sam is left with Paul to talk to. Which would be alright if Paul wanted to talk or something but instead he tells Sam to go to work and freaks out over some lost data, which is not normal Paul behavior. It gets even worse when Paul decides sticking his head in the microwave was a good idea- which, first of all, how did he even get it to cook with the door open? Sam's microwave couldn't do that. Second of all, it wasn't a good idea because now Paul's dead (which should probably be Sam's main focus but the door thing is really bothering him). 

He almost says something to Ian about the door but decides against it when he realizes he should be grieving and saying things like that to people who are actually grieving is a bad idea. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Smith says he overshares.

If Paul was acting off the day before then Ian is acting even more off today. Ian is wearing his uniform, something he never does. Ever. Then, he completely ignores Sam in favor of doing work- which, ow, Sam thought they were friends.

Ian seems to have killed himself in the bathroom and the only witness is Dean Smith.

Smith calls Sam up to his office later and explains what he saw during Ian's death, faucets that all turn on and a reverse vampire apparently. When Sam tells him about both Ian and Paul's trips to HR- room 1444, there's no HR in room 1444- they decide to investigate. They find another employee being attacked by what appears to be a ghost. Smith swings a wrench at it and the ghost disappears- why would it be afraid of a wrench anyway, what the hell?

Sam finds the Ghostfacers' website and shows it to Smith- Dean, maybe, they fought a ghost together that's got to count for something in the friendship department- and they both agree that getting rid of this ghost is in their best interests.

Armed with salt, on fire pokers and an idea of what to look for, they set off to kill P.T. Sandover's ghost.

Sam is caught by security but Dean is able to keep looking around Sandover's office for a while. The guard doesn't believe Sam when he explains that he works here and he wasn't trying to rob the place, but then the elevator stops halfway onto the next floor. The guard leaves and turns to help Sam out of the elevator but he gets decapitated by being between the door and floor when it starts moving again- thanks to the ghost, he's sure. 

He's on the 22nd floor and calls to tell Dean to get there quickly.

When Dean arrives they find a pair of Sandover's gloves. Burning them proves to be more difficult then they hoped because the ghost shows up to in order to stop them. After a brief struggle between the three of them, Sam is able to burn the gloves and they watch as Sandover's ghost burns along with them.

They go back to Dean's office. Sam wants to quit his job and go save people from the ghosts, help people. Dean.... doesn't quite agree. He doesn't think he'll be able to live off stolen credit cards and diner food. Sam makes the mistake of telling Dean that he dreams about the two of them driving the country and saving people and Dean tells him to get out. Sam leaves.

The next day is the best day of Sam's life. He quits his job by beating up that damn phone with the fire poker from last night. It feels good, quitting and knowing he's going to do something better with his life than tech support. He'll be helping people, screw what Dean Smith says.

Of course, becoming Sam Winchester again skews his perspective a bit but, hey, saving people is in his blood and Sam won't change that for the world.


	10. Books

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chuck is a prophet who likes to drink and write books. The boys aren't fans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooooooooo....
> 
> I'm alive? I swear, I didn't mean to leave this for so long. I've been distracted by other fandoms, so updates for this are probably going to be almost nonexistent for the most part (I say that like they aren't already that way). Anyway, super short chapter, mostly because I didn't actually want to write this one. Also, there's like zero change from canon for this one (as far as I know, I haven't seen this episode in forever and my memory isn't the best). 
> 
> So, see ya next update, I guess.

Sam and Dean are back on the road, Impala and all, waiting for a new case. Dean thinks they should focus on small things until the angels call again. Sam has that look that says he disagrees entirely but isn't going to say anything about it. They find what appears to be a haunting a few towns over in a small bookstore.

Entering the store is an experience because, at first, they're being taken seriously (mostly) and then the cashier brings up 'Supernatural.' On the one hand, Dean's thoughts consist of _what in the Hell is this shit_ and on the other _maybe I can finally get some damn answers about Sam._

That doesn't seem to happen though because, after Sam declares the accuracy, they have to start looking for this Carver Edlund guy. 

Finding Edlund- Chuck- doesn't do them much good either. That is, of course, unless they want to be smited- smote? Smoot?- by a pissy archangel. 

Dean's frustration at this whole situation just continues to grow as every single one of Chuck's predictions comes true. Dean kind of wants to call bullshit on that because fuck destiny. If Cas were here, Dean would ask if they were being purposefully manipulated into following this prophecy thing, but Cas left not too long ago.

Lillith is Dean's main concern because really, Sam? Sex with one demon isn't good enough? and because she wants them dead. Though, nowadays, creatures wanting them dead is kind of a given. 

An idea strikes Dean suddenly and he grabs Chuck to drag him to the motel. As soon as they arrive, Dean knows something is off because there's Lillith and Sam in a very compromising position. Before he can yell at his brother for being a fucking moron, Raphael appears and scares Lillith off for being to close to the prophet. They say their apologies to Chuck and send him on his merry way home. 

Dean's talk with Sam is long overdue.


	11. Adam (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam's mom is scared but Adam feels like there's something else going on.

    Adam Milligan is at college when he gets a call from his mother.

    “Adam? Honey, it’s me. I- there’s something wrong but I don’t know if it’s safe to tell you over the phone.”

    “Mom? Do you need me to come home? I can, it’s not a big deal.”

    He can hear the way her breath catches in her throat and the quiet hiccuping sobs that accompany it. No matter what her answer is, Adam is definitely going home.

    “Yes, please. I don’t know if I can-” her speech is cut off by a loud sob.

    “I’ll be home in a bit, okay? I love you.”

    “I love you, too. Be safe.” She hangs up quickly after that and Adam is up packing as soon as he realizes the call’s been cut off. He’s not sure what’s wrong with his mom but she’s all he has nowadays and if she’s in any kind of distress then he’ll be there as soon as possible. Ever since his dad left, the two of them are the only thing they can count on. If the college kicks him out for missing too many days or whatever it won’t be a big deal. His mom is more important than his education.

    It takes longer than he hopes for him to get home (traffic was a bitch) but, when he does, it’s to silence. Not the regular silence, either. There’s something making the hair on the back of his neck rise on end, telling him to run out of the house and never look back because whatever this is has plans that don’t involve him getting out of this house alive.

    Now, Adam has never been superstitious but he has always had good instincts. So, when his brain tells him to book it out of there, he doesn’t hesitate to get in his car and drive to the old motel on the edge of town, the one that hardly anybody uses anymore because the place is practically falling apart at the seams. The first thing he does upon checking in is lock the doors and windows. The next is salt all the entrances (it’s something his mother instilled in him when he was young and he never quite managed to kick the habit). 

Finally he picks up his phone, fingers ready to dial his mom. Something makes him pause, though. That same feeling from his house that screamed at him to run.

So, instead, he calls the last number he remembers of his dad’s. 

_You’ve reached the voicemail of John Winchester, you know what to do._

Adam wants to scream, but forces himself to record a message. “D-dad? It’s me, Adam. Mom called and said something was going on, I was going to visit but something feels... off. I know we haven’t spoken in years, but just- I don’t know call back and tell me I’m paranoid or something, I guess?”

He sends it off and waits patiently for a call back.

It’s almost a full twenty-four hours before Adam gets a response.

“Hello?” The voice on the other end doesn’t sound like his dad (from what he can remember, anyway).

“Who’s this?” His voice comes out harsher than he means it to but he’s scared and can’t quite bring himself to regret it. 

The voice hesitates, “I’m Sam Winchester,” it- Sam, apparently- says, “You called this number yesterday?”

“Winchester?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you John Winchester’s brother or something?” Adam wants to believe he’s right, believe that this man is some unknown uncle of his but he can’t quite bring himself to hope.

“No. I’m his son.”

Adam barks out a laugh that sounds only vague;y hysterical, “Yeah. Bullshit.”

“I’m not kidding.”

He can hear how serious Sam sounds and he wants to scream again, loudly.

“Alright,” Adam breathes shakily, “alright. I’m Adam- uh Adam Milligan. I’m John Winchester’s son?”

There’s a pause before he hears Sam’s voice again, “okay. Say I believe you, Why are you calling now?”

“I said in the voicemail, didn’t I?”

“Sorry,” Sam sounds embarrassed, “I didn’t mean- You know what? I don’t know what I meant, so let’s leave it at that. You said there’s something weird going on?”

Adam hesitates before speaking, “Mom called and said something was wrong. I went to go check on her and something felt off so I left. I was going to call her and ask what was up but something felt off there too so I called dad instead. Can I talk to him now?”

Sam sighs, almost inaudibly, “Um- how do I say this? Dad died a few years back, in a car accident.”

He can feel his world come to a halt for a few seconds. Sure, he didn’t particularly care for his dad but he didn’t want him dead. It takes a minute to realize Sam is still speaking.

“You did good getting out of there. It may not seem like it, but your instincts are usually right. Can you tell me where you are?”

Adam’s about to shout out a no but that same feeling returns, stronger than before and telling him that this is something he can’t quite handle on his own. He barely manages to spit out the address before the feeling intensifies. He whimpers out a quiet hurry and clicks the phone shut.

Not an hour later there’s a knock on the door.

“Adam?” It’s Sam, “It’s me, Sam? We talked on the phone-”

Adam all but yanks the door open in his hurry to escape the feeling of imminent death that lingers in the shadows. All the mental preparation in the world, however, could not prepare him for the absolute monster of a man that stood sheepishly before him. Sam Winchester was a six-foot wall of literal muscle and Adam considers taking a chance against whatever it is that’s stalking him for all of a second. Before that thought can fully form, though, Sam holds out a single, scarred hand. 

“I’m Sam Winchester, your half-brother, I guess,” the awkward smile on this giant’s face is enough to convince him that Sam means no harm, no matter how dangerous he looks.

“Adam Milligan,” he takes Sam’s offered hand, “Come in.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It'd been forever and I'm sorry. I would love to lie and say I've been busy or some other bullshit but momma ain't raise no liar.
> 
> Anywho, new chapter and a planned update schedule. I'm planning on updates every Sunday/Monday (one of the two, idk as of yet)
> 
> Come yell at me (or don't) on Tumblr, I get bored pretending like I don't speak English when the porn bots try to talk: lincolndid911.tumblr.com
> 
> jfc I've been reading through this again and lowkey wanna take it down bc it's so fucking awkward
> 
> but I won't bc people are subscribed to this trash and I'm not gonna pry you from one of the only multi-chapter Michael/Sam fics in existence.
> 
> Have a good week


	12. Adam (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Michael avoids a question and Adam deserves better

Sam is both surprised and pleased when he sees Michael again. The angel looks incredibly awkward, standing in the middle of a run-down motel room. 

“Michael?” Sam asks, hiding a smile behind his hand.

“Ah, Samuel,” Michael says, “I came to apologize?”

“You sound like you’re asking a question.”

“I…. Don’t understand,” Michael tilts his head the same way Cas does when he’s confused, “I came to apologize for my brothers.”

Sam smiles at him. “No reason for that,” he says, “it’s not like you can control them.”

Michael shifts awkwardly on his feet and nods. “Yes, it is… not that way.”

This is the most emotion Sam’s seen from an angel in, well, ever. It’s both refreshing and slightly concerning. Something clicks, though, and Sam narrows his eyes. 

“Wait,” he starts, “Michael? Like the archangel Michael?”

This seems to startle Michael because he disappears suddenly, leaving Sam to blink at the spot where he had been standing. That explains... absolutely nothing, actually. He supposes he can just ask Cas whenever the ‘Holy Tax Accountant’- as Dean’s taken to calling him- comes back.

Sam looks up as Dean enters the motel room and tosses a phone at him, “Dad got a voicemail. Check it.”

Dean’s usual cocky joking has been reduced to curt sentences since his realization about Sam’s powers and it makes Sam want to hit him sometimes, “Yeah, alright.” He rolls his eyes at Dean’s retreating back . He opens his dad’s old flip-phone and clicks the voicemail notification. 

What he hears shocks him. Some kid left a message calling John Winchester dad? There’s something up, so he calls back. The kid- Adam- sounds awkward as hell and just as nervous. There’s a shaky quality to his voice that shouts lack of experience and a quiet plea for help. Sam doesn’t know what’s going on, doesn’t have a clue, but Winchester instincts tend to be spot on when it comes to life-threatening situations (whether they listen to this instincts is, of course, a different matter entirely). 

“Dean, hurry up and pack, we’ve got somewhere to be,” Sam shouts at the bathroom door.

“Yeah, alright, Samantha,” Sam can hear the eye roll that accompanies this sentence and wants to sigh in both annoyance and relief- annoyance that Dean’s calling him Samantha again and relief that he didn’t get a monosyllable answer.

When Dean exits the bathroom, he turns to sam and asks, “You found a case?”

“I mean, kind of? The message on Dad’s phone is from some kid named Adam, says there’s something weird going on but he doesn’t know what.”

“Weird?” Dean blinks, “Weird how?”

“He didn’t know, Dean. He just said that his mom called but when he got to the house something felt really off about it.”

“Do we know we can trust him?”

“Of course not,” Sam scoffs, “but we kind of have an obligation to at least check it out.”

“Why, because he’s one of Dad’s friends?”

“No,” Sam hesitates, unsure how to explain, “he said that John Winchester was his dad.”

Dean sends him a look, the same one that means ‘this better not be a joke Sam or so help me’ and Sam shifts awkwardly in his seat.

“Not possible.” Dean barks, “Dad cared about Mom too much to have another kid.” 

“Fine, Dean,” Sam says, “If you don’t want to check it out, I will. Call Cas, I’ll give him the address and he can drop me off.”

Dean stares at him, checking for signs that Sam is lying to him and then sends him a dark glare, “Fine. Don’t call me when you get there and nothing’s wrong.”

Sam rolls his eyes, “I won’t.”

About thirty minutes later Sam is outside of a motel room, duffel bag in hand. 

He knocks on the door, “Adam? It’s me, Sam? We talked on the phone-”

Before he can even finish his sentence, the door is yanked open and Sam is greeted with the face of a young, blonde man wearing a deer-in-headlights look. Sam holds out his hand to shake, “I’m Sam Winchester,” He says, “Your half-brother, I guess.” He tries to smile in the most non-serial killer way possible. He’s not quite sure it works.

“Adam Milligan,” says the blond, taking Sam’s hand. “Come in.”

The first thing Sam notices when he comes in is the salt along all of the entrances. 

Adam must notice the way he checks out the salted window sills and doorway because he says, “Sorry. Mom taught me to do that, never quite kicked the habit.”

Sam raises an eyebrow at that, “No. It’s a good thing you did.” The look Adam gives him is beyond confused and Sam realizes that this kid probably doesn’t know anything about the supernatural, not if he looks confused at being praised for salting the place. “So,” he says, “you said something was going on?”

Adam hesitates for a second, staring at Sam like he wants to make sure it’s safe then speaks, “I don’t know, exactly. Like I said, I went to go visit my mom and when I got to the house it just felt off.”

“What kind of off?” Sams asks.

“Like… someone wanted me dead off? I think. It felt like that for a while before you showed up, too.”

Sam freezes and goes into hunter mode. He sets his duffel bag softly on the bed and, without stopping his scan of the room, brings out Ruby’s knife. His feet pad silently across the floor and to the bathroom door. Adam looks like he’s about to protest and Sam holds and hand up to silence him. Slowly, very slowly, Sam opens the bathroom door. There’s nothing but an open window and he frowns. “Adam?”

“Yeah?” Adam’s shaking voice answers back.

“Did you leave the bathroom window open?”

Adam shakes his head, “No, I didn’t touch that window except to salt it.”

This is worse than Sam thought. Ghosts were fairly common and therefore easy to deal with and Demons, while not as straightforward, were getting a lot easier to handle. This is neither of those if it got past the- still intact- salt line. He curses under his breath before turning back to Adam. 

“I’m going to call Dean, my brother-”

“There’s more of you?” Adam asks in what sounds vaguely like exasperation, “Jesus, is he as tall as you are?”

Sam laughs, “No, Dean’s not this tall.”

Adam says an exaggerated, “oh, thank God,” with a hand placed dramatically over his chest and Sam smiles happily at him. This is the kind of thing he misses from Dean, the dramatic jokes and brotherly teasing.

He has his phone pressed lightly to his ear while half-listening to Adam whine about how Sam getting the height in the family was completely unfair and _how dare he_? Dean picks up after a couple rings and Sam doesn’t miss the obvious way he tenses at the harsh tone of Dean’s voice. He does, however, miss the contemplative look Adam sends him at the tensing of his shoulders.

“What? Case didn’t pan out?” Dean says in a voice that sounds both joking and angry at the same time.

“It did,” Sam says, “Or at least, I think it did. I was wondering if you could ask Cas to scan the area.”

Dean’s scoff hurts more than Sam likes to admit, “Cas has better things to do than help your ass. Do your investigating the old-fashioned way.”

“I was planning on it but Adam’s life is at stake here.”

“The _world_ is at stake, Sam. Get your priorities straight.”

Dean is right, of course. What’s one life compared to the whole world? “Fine, Dean. I’ll do this without you but don’t go making any deals if it gets me killed.”

“Probably won’t need to,” Sam thinks he isn’t supposed to hear this, “Demon bitch'll probably drag you back.” Dean speaks, louder this time, “Yeah, whatever,” and hangs up.

“Well,” says Sam, “that went well.” 

Adam raises an incredulous eyebrow, “If that’s well, I don’t think I want to know what bad is.”

“Probably not,” agrees Sam. “I know you said your house felt off, but it might be for the best if we go back to investigate. You might not want to come at all but I’d feel a lot better if you were in a place where I could see you.”

For a moment, Adam looks like he might argue, but then his face goes blank for a second and he looks consideringly at Sam, “Yeah, I get it.”

The drive to Adam’s mom’s house is relatively silent. Sam has what he thinks he’ll need- the demon knife, a silver knife, an iron knife, a small handgun, and a machete. They’re the basics but between them, they can kill the majority of monsters. Sam would prefer to go in more prepared but he doesn’t need too many weapons to slow him down.

Sam has his handgun in hand and is about to raise it when Adam grabs his sleeve, “Yeah?” He asks.

“It’s here,” Adam says, tightening his grip on Sam’s sleeve.

This brings Sam to a halt. He can’t leave Adam here, not without protection, but he can’t take him in the house either. Sam chews his lower lip thoughtfully, “Do you know how to use a knife?”

Adam looks up at him and nods, “I know which end to point away from me.”

Sam sighs, this is probably as good as he’ll get for now. “Good enough,” he says and hands Adam the silver knife, “Anything that isn’t me comes near you, I want you to stab it. Unless I’m there. If I’m there I want you to let me shoot it.”

He waits for Adam to nod his assent before he hands over the knife. 

They enter the house together, Adam slightly behind Sam and not nearly as quiet. For a few minutes there’s nothing before Sam hears a scream and a laugh.

Rushing towards the noise shows Adam cornered by two people (when did he lose Adam?). One of them- a small woman with the same blonde hair as Adam- is cackling amusedly.

“Adam, dear?” It’s voice is high pitched, like it’s doing its best to imitate the woman but can’t quite get her voice right.

Adam looks confused but hopeful, “M-Mom?”

“Of course dear,” The blonde one cups her hands around Adam’s face, “It’s me. This is my friend,” It gestures to the other one- a tall, broad male with raven hair- and smiles sweetly, “Derek.”

Sam’s had enough at this point and aims his gun at Derek’s head. The shot rings loudly through the house as the thing collapses.

The thing pretending to be Adam’s mom swings around to stare at Sam.

“Well,” It says, “well, well, well. If it isn’t Sam Winchester.” His gun is trained on its head and unwavering. “What,” the monster pouts, “no hello?”

Derek stands up once more and smiles, all sharp teeth and anger, “Little Sammy Winchester,” It croons. “Where’s Daddy? Too busy to help his baby?”

Sam drops his gun to grab his machete, if a gunshot to the head slowed it down then the logical next step is decapitation.

“Ah, ah, ah,” the blonde one says, shaking her finger like a scolding parent, “touch us and Adam gets it.”

“The problem with that,” says Adam from behind Sam (when did he get there?) “is that you can’t reach me.”

Sam takes that as his cue and runs to cut the heads off of the creatures. Derek goes down easily, still slow from the gunshot wound. The blonde one is still a challenge. She’s fast and seems determined to reach Adam but Sam isn’t having any of that and blocks each attempt made to pass him. Eventually, the monster ends up pressed with its back against the wall and Sam’s machete pressed tightly against its throat. He’s about to kill it when he feels a hand on his arm.

Adam speaks slowly and deliberately, “Where’s my Mom?”

The thing pretending to be her smiles sharply, “Kate Milligan is dead,” she sings, “Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead-” The sound off its head hitting the floor is the only noise for a few minutes.

“She was- She was lying, right?” Adam asks, eyes pleading, “My mom’s okay, isn’t she?”

Sam wants to lie and say everything will be alright but Adam is a Winchester, if only in blood, and nothing ever goes right for a Winchester. So he says, “I don’t know.”

Adam freezes and stares at Sam helplessly. He then frantically pulls his phone from his pocket and dials a number. There’s a ringing sound far off in the house and Sam puts an arm across Adam’s chest to stop him from running off. 

“Just to be safe,” he says and Adam nods before following Sam’s slow footsteps through the house toward the ringing. They end up outside a closed door and Sam pushes Adam out of the possible range of fire before throwing it open. The sight that greets him is grim and he lowers his machete. Kate Milligan’s body is lying on the bed, chunks of flesh missing from her arms and chest- likely from being chewed by the ghouls (because that’s what they were, speed and decapitation and eating their victims). 

Adam’s voice speaks from just next to Sam, barely too far away to see this, “Sam?”

Sam looks at Adam and there must be something in his eyes that says what happened because Adam looks scared and upset. “She’s in there,” he says, “but it’s bad.”

The look Adam gives him says it all and Sam steps out of the doorway so Adam can go in. He freezes when he sees her body, and Sam can see the moment he starts to cry. Adam is pulled tightly to Sam’s chest and held as he sobs. Instead of pushing away like Sam thought he would, Adam clutches at the back of Sam’s shirt and buries his head in his shoulder.

They stay like this, standing in Kate Milligan’s hallway and Adam crying loudly into Sam’s shirt, for an hour or so before Adam calms down enough to speak, “Can- Can we leave? I don’t want to-”

Sam runs a hand along Adam’s back in what he hopes is a comforting way, “Yeah, Adam. We can go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lowkey this is the longest chapter yet at almost exactly 2400 words and I'm pretty happy with that. Also, in case you couldn't tell, I love Adam and didn't want him to die so you got this.
> 
> Also- The chapter before this was written after I went three days without sleeping so it's a mess. Like, a huge mess but luckily for me I tagged this as canon divergence so I can do whatever I want *Insert evil cackle here*
> 
> Thanks for sticking with me as I work out my writing style- it's gotten a lot more consistent as of late but those first few chapters were a mess (this is still a mess, but it's a _consistent_ mess lol)
> 
> Anyways, on a completely unrelated note, I wrote this entire chapter with the owo extension for Chrome and that was to most confusing thing I've ever done ("Sam dwops his gun to gwab his machete").
> 
> See ya next week!


	13. Meet the Vessel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jimmy Novak misses his family and Sam has a problem

The month after his mom’s death passes in a blur for Adam. Sam had been against it at first when Adam asked to travel with him (he couldn’t just leave and go back to college, not after finding out the truth like that) but was finally persuaded. Most of the time was spent in crappy motel rooms and cheap diners, Sam spent a lot of time looking for cases or trying to find Seals to stop from breaking (the Apocalypse, who would’ve thought). When they’re between jobs, Sam takes the time to teach Adam how to handle himself in a fight and use weapons, teaches him to hunt and kill whatever lurks in the dark corners (he learns Latin too, but that’s much more difficult than handling a gun).

Adam’s first official hunt is a salt and burn. It’s nothing spectacular (a man who was murdered by his cheating wife went around murdering anybody unfaithful, their first theory had been a woman in white but the women were being killed too) but Adam enjoys it anyway, the opportunity to take his anger out on something that deserves it. He finds it to be good stress relief (he notices the worried looks Sam gives him when he says stuff like that out loud, though, so he tries not to say it too often). 

It’s on an off day when Sam gets a call (he hasn’t gotten a call since Adam met him and this is weird for both of them).

“Dean?” Sam asks, blinking confusedly. 

Adam mouths the name to himself (where has he heard that name before? Somewhere, someplace he can’t quite remember), almost as if he’s testing it out.

“What do you mean you can’t find Cas? He’s always with you. No, I get- I get that, Dean. Just… give me your coordinates or something and we’ll meet up. At Bobby’s? Alright, I’ll be there in a few hours.”

Sam runs a hand through his hair and Adam takes the opportunity to speak, “Dean?”

“Your other half-brother, remember?” Adam freezes for a second and then nods slowly. “I need to meet him at Bobby’s house, you don’t need to come if you don’t want to. This is one of those ‘Apocalypse things’ I’ve been telling you about, there’s an angel involved and I can’t really promise you’ll make it out of there alive.”

Adam snorts, “You’re insane if you think I’m leaving you alone. C’mon, BFG, we need to pack.”

There’s a gentle smile on Sam’s face at Adam’s insistence that makes Adam want to punch whoever made him so unused to friendly teasing that he doesn’t even _pretend_ to get angry. 

The bags are packed and in the trunk of Adam’s car within the next half an hour (most of their stuff stays packed in the duffle bags in case they need to make a quick escape). There’s a comfortable silence as the two of them get in the car (Sam’s driving, even though it’s Adam’s turn, because he knows the way to Bobby’s and Adam doesn’t) and start driving. Adam reaches toward the radio and flips around, looking for the ‘Today’s Hits’ station. When he finds the station he’s looking for there’s a Kelly Clarkson song blaring out of the speakers and he begins to sing along as obnoxiously as possible. Sam rolls his eyes but begins to sing along too (they both just screech loudly at any high notes and scream random words for the duration of the song because neither of them actually know the words). 

It’s about three hours of obnoxiously loud and inaccurate singing before they finally get to Bobby’s. Adam gets out of the car in an overly dramatic manner, barely opening the car door only to kick it the rest of the way open. Sam rolls his eyes at that but says nothing, going to get their bags from the trunk. Adam grabs his own duffle from Sam and then walks up to the front door (he’s still singing as loudly as he possibly can, some song he and Sam had made up about going fishing for cattle while they were listening to a Black Eyed Peas song). The door bangs open loudly before Adam can even get a foot up onto the steps and he frowns (he’d really been hoping to make a dramatic entrance via extremely loud, confusing singing but it appears he’ll never get the chance). He notices Sam’s slight flinch at the person who opened the door so he turns to study the man (Dean Winchester, he assumes). The man he assumes to be Dean is shorter than Sam by a good few inches (a foot at most) and a _blockade_ of muscle (Jesus, if he thought Sam had been all muscles it was nothing compared to what this guy looked like), he has dirty blonde hair and rough stubble along the bottom half of his face. All-in-all, definitely a guy Adam would’ve been terrified of if he didn’t need to protect Sam.

“Who the hell are you?”

Adam decides to go for the asshole approach and looks down his nose at the other man, “Adam. Now, who are you?”

“I asked first!” 

“And I answered, dumbass. Who are you?”

“None o’ your Goddamn business, you little-”

“Dean?” Says Sam and Adam turns to look at his giant of a brother (just because Sam is technically the older brother doesn’t mean Adam treats him that way, Sam is his little brother in all but age). 

“Sammy,” Dean sighs, then turns to look at Adam, “who’s the pipsqueak?”

“That’s Adam,” Sam gestures in Adam’s general direction, “He and I have been working together for about a month or so.”

“Oh. So I’m that easy to replace, then?” Dean looks pissed and ready to tear somebody to pieces (he’s looking consideringly at Adam which is vaguely terrifying). 

“It’s not-”

“Yeah. Whatever.” Dean turns to stalk angrily back into the house and Sam rubs awkwardly at the back of his neck.

“He’s not usually that bad,” Sam is trying to sound reassuring but Adam really isn’t buying that. There is no way Dean is only a dick once in a blue moon, Adam’s had enough experience with people to know that most of them are dicks about 98% of the time. Of course, he only hums noncommittally at Sam in place of voicing his thoughts on the subject.

They end up around a small desk in what appears to be the library/study are of the house.

“So,” Bobby starts, “who’s the kid?’

“I’m Adam,” he says, looking challengingly right back at the man.

Bobby just grunts in what might be approval. “Bobby Singer,” they shake hands.

What follows is a long conversation in which they discuss Castiel and the dream that he used to visit Dean. The only lead they have is an address to an old, abandoned factory and Castiel’s ominous warning. They decide the best option is to check out the address and hope for the best.

Dean reluctantly allows Adam to tag along (he only lets him go when Adam threatens to just drive himself there) but it doesn’t really matter in the end. All they find in the factory os a man, kneeling and panting on the floor. 

The man calls himself Jimmy Novak, the vessel of Castiel (he tells them the story as he eats). He agreed to be possessed by Castiel when the angel appeared to him and said he was ‘chosen’ for the role of vessel. Jimmy claims to have very little memory of what happened while possessed (“It was like being strapped to a comet,” the man says) which isn’t much (read: any) help at all but he tells them what he knows in exchange for being driven home to his family. They refuse to drive him home, though (there are demons and angels after him, they can’t just leave him to their mercy). 

Jimmy sneaks out that night anyway (Sam was supposed to be watching him, why wasn’t Sam watching him?). Somebody (“Anna,” Sam tells Adam, “an angel.”) shows up to warn them about Jimmy Novak’s future.

“The demons are after him,” she says, flyaway hair blowing around her face in the light breeze, “they believe he has important information from Castiel.”

Dean curses under his breath and then turns to look at Anna, “How long do we have?”

“I don’t know,” she chews her bottom lip, “I can’t tell, not without risking Heaven finding me.” Anna then turns to look at Sam. “You’re different,” this is said flatly, with no emotion (like she knows what’s different and is waiting for Sam to say something). 

Sam shrugs, “I think we have bigger problems at the moment.”

 

By the time they pry an address from Anna and get to the house, they’re almost too late to save the Novak’s. There’s a man, covered in blood, holding a knife to the young daughter’s throat. Sam throws the demon against the wall using- what is that? The Force? (since when could Sam do that?)- and holds it there while Adam goes in to stab it with the Demon Knife (Dean had begged for it earlier but Adam had refused to hand it over because he didn’t trust Dean to give it back to Sam). 

As the demon lays dead on the floor, the Novaks make up. Amelia apologizes to her husband (“I’m sorry I didn’t believe you-”) and Jimmy apologizes to all of them (“No, Amelia, I should’ve explained better. This is my fault-”). They don’t have much time, though, and the female Novaks are eventually convinced to leave for their own safety (the demons are after Jimmy, they should leave the others alone). 

Not an hour later, Jimmy gets a call. Amelia and Claire are being held by demons (of course they are, the demons aren’t above using people as leverage) and so Jimmy, the Winchesters, and Adam head off to find the demons.

Entering the building where the demons are holding the Novaks is terrifying (Adam’s never hunted demons before, mostly just ghosts, because Sam didn’t want him to get killed doing something above his skill level). There’s a demon possessing Amelia, holding little Claire by the shirt and running its hands soothingly along the girl’s hair.

Sam opens a journal and begins reciting the exorcism (“Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, omnis congregatio et secta diabolica-”). It doesn’t take long for it to go to hell anyway. Jimmy Novak is shot and Claire is being possessed by Castiel. Those two would’ve been enough on their own but then Adam turns and sees Sam drinking a demon’s blood and is horrified ( _nononononononononono_ ) because either that’s something pretending to be Sam or it’s really Sam and both options are terrible (“Sam, you can’t do that,” Adam is muttering to himself. “I can’t lose you, Sam. Not now, please-”).

Trying to ignore the blood smeared around Sam’s mouth, Adam focuses his attention on Jimmy and Claire Novak. Castiel is still possessing Claire and staring blankly at Jimmy who is trying to trade places with Claire (“Please, Castiel, I’ll do anything. Just leave Claire out of this-”). There is no indication of discomfort in the little girl’s body as she stares down at her father. 

“Okay,” says Castiel (it makes Adam uncomfortable, hearing the voice of a child so emotionless).

There isn’t much after that. Castiel apologizes lightly to the Novak family and escorts them home (it only takes a few seconds because angels can fly at the speed of light, apparently). 

“What did you want to tell me, Cas?” Dean asks, leaning slightly toward Castiel (almost leaning on the angel’s shoulder, like he’s being drawn in in that direction).

Castiel’s eyes flash with something that might be anger before his face becomes blank once again, “I learned my lesson while I was away, Dean. I serve Heaven, I don’t serve Man. And I certainly don’t serve you.”

The look on Dean’s face might have been funny if it wasn’t so heartbreaking (he looks like somebody just killed his favorite puppy or told him that pie was canceled forever). He stands frozen for almost five minutes after Castiel leaves and then turns to stomp angrily toward the Impala. Nobody speaks as Sam climbs in the passenger seat and Adam climbs in the back. Dean starts up the music as loudly as he can and _drives_ (he breaks just about every driving law there is and Adam is too scared to say anything about it).

“Dean-” Sam starts, turning to face his brother.

“I don’t want to hear it, Sam. I’m done. You’re done. When we get to Bobby’s I want you to take the kid and I want you to _leave_. Do you understand that? I don’t want to hear from you unless you’re on the fucking _brink of death_.”

Sam nods slowly, head ducked so his hair covers his eyes (Adam wants to punch Dean for that, you don’t _ever_ tell somebody something like that after you catch them doing something you disapprove of.

They get back to Bobby’s extremely quickly and Adam goes in to grab their bags, throwing them in the trunk before Sam can even get in the house. Sam looks at him questioningly but gets in the car. Adam starts the car and drives (he doesn’t have a location in mind but anywhere away from Dean Winchester is fine by him).

“Adam?”

Adam doesn’t yell at Sam (he wants to, drinking blood can have horrible side effects and demon blood is probably a million times worse) but he hums in acknowledgment.

“I’m sorry that you had to see that. The demon blood thing, nobody was supposed to-”

“To what?” Adam asks, “Know? I’m not mad at you, Sam, so stop giving me the kicked puppy look. I’m worried. It’s okay to drink a little blood but, Sam, you almost drank her dry. That could cause hemochromatosis, Sam, and that could _kill you_.”

“I- What?” Sam had a kind of stumped look on his face, like the idea of death via blood consumption had never occurred to him. 

“It’d be an iron overdose, Sam. Which we’re lucky hasn’t happened yet. It causes a ton of problems; liver damage, fluid in the lungs, dehydration, low blood sugar, nervous disorder, and a million more things that I’m not going to list. Not only that, these were demons. They’ve done who knows what with those bodies and you’re extremely lucky you haven’t contracted HIV or Hepatitis or Cytomegalovirus or Parvo, for God’s sake! I’m not mad at you, Sam. I’m mad about the fact that you didn’t think about this before you did it.”

“I did think about it, Adam,” Sam says quietly, “Ruby says the best way to prevent the apocalypse is to kill Lilith and the only way to kill Lilith is with these powers but I can only get them if I drink her blood.”

“She’s lying.”

“Stop the car,” Sam looks angry and about ready to jump out of the car.

“Hear me out, Sam. You told me before, those kids that you played Hunger Games with or whatever- some of them had developed their powers, right? I doubt any demons were willing to let them drink their blood and demons were such an unknown variable at that point that even you and Dean had a hard time killing them. How do you think they did it, huh? Practice, Sam, that’s how you get better at anything.”

“I don’t think it works like that, Adam.”

“It _does_ , Sam. That’s how it works. You practice and you get better at everything. You’ll get there eventually you just- You can’t keep doing this, Sam.” 

“I’ll try,” Sam says. “I can’t make any promises.”

“That’s all I ask, Sam.” There’s an awkward silence before Adam, avoiding eye contact, says, “I love you, Sam.”

Sam blinks, shocked, “I love you too.”

Adam smiles. For a moment, everything seems like it’ll turn out okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! I'm back with this weeks chapter (which is once again at over 2000 words). The Iron overdose thing was the first thing to come up when I looked up "side effects of drinking blood" on Google. The disease thing was a list of blood-borne diseases from Google.
> 
> I changed it from 13/31 to 13/? bc I no longer have any clue how many chapters this will be.
> 
> On another note, the "I love you" thing between Sam and Adam is completely platonic in case you didn't notice like... 
> 
> I figure it's obvious but just in case
> 
> uhhhhhh, idk other than that so I'll see you next week!


	14. Detox (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam is going through withdrawal but it's okay because Michael is here to help

The few days of peace after the whole Jimmy Novak thing were spent hunting. Well… Sam spends it hunting, anyway. Adam spends most of that time trying to find a safe way to bring Sam down from his demon blood high because “Samuel Winchester, I won’t have you dying on me just because I was too damn lazy to help you detox safely.” Adam’s first suggestion is a hospital but that’s immediately ruled out because not only is Sam a (supposedly dead) wanted criminal, he’s also detoxing from _demon blood_. Which, he can’t just walk into the doctor and say “Hey, Doc, can ya strap me down until I’m not high anymore? Oh, what drug am I on? Demon blood.” That’d get him locked up for sure.

It doesn’t really matter what they want in the end because Bobby gives them a call not three days after the case, sounding (in his gruff, old man kind of way) worried, resigned, and vaguely excited. 

“Sam-” Bobby starts roughly.

“No, this is Adam. Sam can’t talk, he’s driving,” Adam cuts Bobby off swiftly (it makes Sam roll his eyes because ever since Adam started traveling with him there’s been a ‘no talking on the phone while driving’ rule that had been strictly enforced).

“Can you put me on speaker, then?”

“Can do.” Adam presses the speaker button.”You’re on.”

“Thanks,” Bobby says, “Heya, Sam. I’ve got somethin’ I think you might like to see. It ain’t nothin’ world endin’ but if you’re interested…”

“What kind of something?” Sam asks, raising an eyebrow at Adam (who then proceeds to gesture wildly back at the road, making Sam roll his eyes again).

“I’ve upgraded the Panic Room ‘s all. Nothin’ too fancy but I thought you might want to see it.”

Sam chews on his lip before shrugging and making an (illegal) u-turn towards South Dakota. “Yeah. Sure thing, Bobby. We should be there in… a few hours? A day, at most. We’ll see you then.”

“You’re bringin’ the kid with you?” Bobby asks.

Sam tightens his grip on the steering wheel for a second before taking a deep breath and relaxing his hands. “Yeah,” Sam’s tone is defensive and tight in a way that almost begs Bobby to fight him on this, “of course I am.”

“I ain’t sayin’ nothin’ against it so don’t go gettin’ defensive on me. I was just wonderin’ ‘s all.”

Sam forces himself to take another deep breath, “sorry, Bobby.”

“Ain’t nothin’ to worry about, just get your ass on over here.”

“Yes, sir,” Sam laughs. 

The drive only ends up taking them a few hours (a few hours which included Sam breaking just about every traffic law in existence and Adam holding on to his seatbelt for dear life). Sam pulls the car across the gravel and as close to the front porch as he can get (he and Adam both notice the presence of a certain Impala but decide not to comment on it). Before either of them can unbuckle, Bobby is at the front door and gesturing them in the house. Adam is in the house first (having never seen the panic room before he’s the most excited of everybody) and Sam has an odd feeling he should turn around and leave but can’t quite bring himself to do so.

Getting down to the Panic Room doesn’t take as long as Sam hopes and he soon finds himself standing under the giant fan (the Devil’s Trap is casting odd shadows along the floor that make Sam uncomfortable), blinking in astonishment at the sigils painted along the walls (all in blood, too. How much blood must that have taken?). 

Adam suddenly scratches at his throat and wrinkles his nose. “You have water in the fridge, or just beer?” He asks.

Dean looks insulted at that but Bobby just looks amused, “look in the bottom left drawer.”

This gets him a smile and thanks from Adam before said person turns to bound up the stairs. 

It doesn’t take long for Sam to realize something is off. As soon as Adam leaves, Dean and Bobby do as well. Sam turns to follow them out but finds the iron door closed in his face.

“It’s for your own good, Sammy,” Dean says through the slat, “we’ve got to get the blood out of your system and this is the best way to do it.”

Before Sam can respond he hears Adam’s cold voice from just outside the door, “Just what do you think you’re doing?”

“I did some research and I think the best way to get Sam down from this demon blood thing is to lock him in the Panic Room. It’ll only take a few days, pipsqueak, so you can get back to hunting with him real soon.”

“You absolute, fucking, _moron_ ,” Adam says darkly. “Did you really do research or did you just pull that out of your ass?”

“I don’t think it matters where I got it from-”

Adam cuts Dean off, “Of course it fucking matters, you dumbass. You could kill him if you do this.”

“Well,” Dean says, “at least he’ll die human.”

Sam can hear Dean’s heavy footsteps go up the stairs and through the living room, can hear Bobby follow behind without protest, before Adam speaks, “They- they locked it, Sam. I can’t pick locks, I’m sorry, if I could just-”

“Don’t worry about it,” Sam says (even though Sam himself is internally panicking, he forces his voice to remain calm for Adam’s sake), “there’s nothing you can do about it, so don’t worry. You can go on a road trip or something while you’re waiting.”

“Sam,” Adam’s voice is shaky and scared sounding, even through the heavy door, “Do you know how many times Sheriff Marks came down to my mom so he could detox after he took up drinking again? A lot, that man couldn’t stay sober to save his life- no clue how he became sheriff- but if there’s one thing those incidents taught me, it was that you never, _never_ , leave somebody alone when they’re in withdrawal. Some of the things that happened to Marks still terrify the hell out of me, Sam, and I can’t leave you alone to deal with it. Please don’t- please don’t ask me to.”

“Okay.” Sam nods. “Okay, I won’t ask you to do that. Just do whatever makes you comfortable, alright?”

“I would, but your dick of an older brother locked me out so I can’t go in there and help you through this.”

“He’s your brother, too.”

“Nope,” Adam says, popping the ‘p’ sound, “I’m not related to any assholes.”

“What about Dad?”

“I’m not related to him either.”

“How are we related, then?” 

“You see,” Adam begins, “I’m _blood related _to a few assholes, but not _related_ , y’know?”__

__Sam laughs, “Yeah, I get it.”_ _

__“Good,” Adam says in a mockingly serious voice, “I wouldn’t want to have to call you an idiot but….”_ _

__“You’re horrible to me.”_ _

__“Of course I am.”_ _

__They spend the next few hours bantering back and forth before Sam starts blacking out. He doesn’t notice at first, just a few things here and there (“What’d you ask me, again?” “What’s your favorite color?”) but then they get more pronounced (“Where- where am I?” “Sam? You’re in the Panic Room at Bobby’s.” “When did I get here?”). Eventually, it’s not even five minutes between lapses and Sam can hear worry in Adam’s voice (he can’t remember why exactly Adam is worried but it must be bad because Adam doesn’t sound this scared even when they’re fighting against wendigos- did he ever fight a wendigo with Adam? He can’t remember)._ _

__Then come the hallucinations. Adam’s voice stops (no it doesn’t. When Sam stops responding to him, Adam slowly becomes hysterical trying to get a response and Dean and Bobby eventually have to drag him from the basement before he hurts himself) so Sam assumes he’s left to go get a glass of water or something and waits. He must fall asleep because the next thing he knows is Adam opening the door and walking into the Panic Room._ _

__“Hey, Sam.” Adam’s voice is soft, the kind of voice you would use on a scared animal._ _

__“Adam? I thought they locked the door?”_ _

__“They did,” he says, “but I got them to agree to let me in.”_ _

__“Oh.”_ _

__Adam hums, “You’re a freak, you know that?”_ _

__“What?”_ _

__“I said, you’re a freak. Jesus,” Adam’s voice is cold and angry, “drinking demon blood? What kind of dumbass do you have to be to even _consider_ doing that?”_ _

__“You said-”_ _

__“I was _lying_. You ever heard of it, Sam? You know, that thing you do to literally everybody?”_ _

__Sam blinks and suddenly it’s Jess, beautiful Jess, standing in front of him with a gentle smile._ _

__Jess hums and runs a hand through Sam’s hair. “It’s your fault I’m dead, Sam. You know that, right? If you’d just warned me about it. Told me the truth, Sam. Is that too much for me to have asked?”_ _

__“No, Jess. Never. I should’ve told you-”_ _

__She shushes him gently and continues carding her fingers through his hair. “I think about you every day. I think about you and I wish I’d never met you,” her voice is still so gentle and soft, unlike Adam’s had been but somehow it hurts worse that way._ _

__Jess covers Sam’s eyes and hums once again before her hand is replaced by one he doesn’t recognize as well._ _

__“Who-”_ _

__“Michael.”_ _

__The hand is removed from his face and Sam blinks at the angel (archangel)._ _

__“Are you well, Samuel? I felt your distress quite clearly from Heaven.”_ _

__“I’m fine,” Sam says (which is a lie but it’s not like Michael needs to know that)._ _

__“No.” Michael tilts his head to the side the same way Cas does when he’s confused. “Why are you lying? I can help if you tell me what’s wrong.”_ _

__“It’s nothing, Michael, I just-” A sharp pain shoots through Sam, causing him to throw his head back against the wall as hard as possible and let out a pained groan._ _

__“Samuel?” Michael sounds panicked, as panicked as an archangel _can_ sound, and he reaches out to touch Sam’s forehead. _ _

__Sam flinches back immediately and bats at the hand, “I said I’m fine, you can go do your heaveny stuff or whatever.”_ _

__“I have nothing to do,” Michael says,” Would you like me to sit by you? I’ve noticed humans tend to like being in close proximity to other living beings when in distress.”_ _

__“If you want to.” Sam barely finishes the thought before Michael is sitting on the ground next to him. Just like Cas, the (arch)angel doesn’t seem to understand the concept of personal space and presses himself tightly against Sam’s right side (not that Sam minds, Michael is warm and Sam wants warmth right now). Sam curls up against Michael and rests his head on Michael’s shoulder. This seems to throw the archangel for a loop because he stiffens considerably and stares silently at Sam (or maybe that’s just how he is in general, Sam hasn’t had much time to interact with said archangel and this could be perfectly normal for all he knows)._ _

__Time passes like this for a while before the hallucinations start again (Sam can’t see it but Michael is worriedly looking for whatever is distressing his human, ready to kill), they cycle through everybody he knows; Adam, Dean, Bobby, Jess, Mom, Dad, Jo, Ellen, Ash, Cas, even Michael makes an appearance. During the brief breaks between each hallucination, Michael is there. The archangel doesn’t speak much but he does run his cold hands through Sam’s hair and across his sweaty forehead. Michael spends a lot of this time frowning, too. Holding his hand on Sam’s forehead longer than necessary and taking his pulse (he doesn’t need to take Sam’s pulse, he’s an archangel and can tell you somebody’s pulse from across time and space but the feeling of Sam’s heartbeat is comforting and Michael doesn’t know or care why)._ _

__For a brief moment, Sam thinks it’s stopped- that he’s done. Then he feels his body try to wrench itself from Michael’s hold. He’s twitching and moving around in ways he didn’t think were possible and it’s all so disorientating. There’s a loud screaming coming from somewhere nearby (is it him?) and it’s all Sam can do not to bang his head loudly against the wall as well (this is also Michael’s doing, of course, he’s tightening his hold on Sam and making sure he stays still so that his charge doesn’t injure himself (he never realized how fragile his human was until now))._ _

__It ends as quickly as it begins and Sam feels himself relax back into Michael’s arms. The archangel’s grip around him is kind of suffocating but it’s also comforting to know that he’s being protected, even if it’s from himself._ _

__Sam falls asleep like this, face hidden in Michael’s chest and terrified of the next stage of withdrawal._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, like I said, the chapter is a day late. I would have updated sooner but today and yesterday were spent helping my step dad's sister in law move stuff out of her late parents' house and it was a mess. Nobody would tell me what the wifi password was or where to find it either.
> 
> Saturday (which is when I update my Harry Potter fic, lucky people got their chapter a day early lmao) I was taking a day trip to Reno with my young cousins (Annie, who's seven, and Parker, who's five). Good news, I got a free build-a-bear out of it _and_ met fellow Harry Potter fans (I had worn my Slytherin (my house) shirt because it was my only clean shirt and two people at build-a-bear commented on it and asked if I was getting a camo bear to go with my house and I originally wasn't but then I couldn't pass up the opportunity lmao). So it was fun all around but I was fucking exhausted by the time I got to Ed and Sherrie's house (I'm actually still not sure if it's spelled Sherrie or Sherry and nobody will tell me which) and fell asleep almost immediately. Anyway, how was your weekend?
> 
> I'm never sure if I should refer to Adam as a man or a boy and it pisses me off. Despite the fact that he's older than me, I mentally refer to him as a boy but he's legally a man and idk which to use so I just referred to him as "said person."
> 
> I'm splitting the detox thing into two chapters because it's late and I'm too lazy to write out the rest of it right now. 
> 
> tbh, the original plan for this chapter was Adam _and_ Michael comforting Sam from Adam's perspective but it turned into Sam's perspective and an awkwardly comforting Michael who's just trying his best.
> 
> Speaking of the detox thing, the next chapter will be Sam's POV for sure but would anybody be interested in some oneshots of the same chapter but from different perspectives (Michael, Adam, Dean, and Bobby, to be more specific)? I might do it even if nobody is interested lmao but I was just kind of wondering. 
> 
> See you next week!


	15. Risen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sam ends the world and I throw canon off a cliff

Sam isn’t sure where he is when he wakes up next. The last memory he has is off being in the Panic Room with… Michael? He isn’t sure. 

What Sam _does_ know is this- he wakes up with Ruby’s wrist and the taste of blood in his mouth. He pulls away but Ruby drags his face back toward her.

“Come on, Sam. Just a little more. That’s it,” she coos. Her breath ghosts across his face and she runs her free hand through his hair. “You’re doing real well, Sammy. We’re going to go kill Lilith now and you’re going to help me, yeah? So good, Sam. Just a little more. There we go.”

Ruby pulls her hand back as suddenly as she put it in front of him in the first place. She stands up, dusts herself off, and offers her uninjured hand to Sam who’s still kneeling on the hard floor of what appears to be a cathedral. He accepts the help and is soon standing beside the demon. Just like times before Dean had risen from Hell. Like when she saved him from himself. 

There isn’t much to find but a door. A large, wooden door leading into God knows what (or maybe he doesn’t). Sam looks at Ruby once more, pleading. He doesn’t want to do this, not without Adam there. Not without Dean. Somebody besides a demon to watch his back. The only response he gets is a bright, encouraging smile. 

They both jump at the loud beep that comes from Sam’s phone.

“It’s probably Dean,” Ruby says, “He’ll tell you to stop, Sam. Is that what you want? You know you could never ignore him.”

Sam gives her a look and then picks his phone from out of his pocket. It’s a voicemail from Dean. 

Holding the phone up to his ear is a mistake. Sam wishes he’d never even looked at the phone, let alone listened to it.

_”Listen to me, you bloodsucking freak. Dad always said I’d either have to save you or kill you. Well, I’m giving you a fair warning. I’m done trying to save you. You’re a monster, Sam- a vampire. You’re not you anymore. And there’s no going back.”_

Sam lets his hand drop to his side. He doesn’t feel anything right now. All he can feel is numb. Numb and a slowly building fury. It feels like ice crawling through his veins, freezing him from the inside out. It feels like a cold hatred and fuel. He’s going to kill Lilith and then… and then he won’t do anything. He knows Dean is right. Sam is a freak- a vampire, a monster, what have you- and when this is all over, he’ll let Dean kill him. But not before. He has to kill Lilith first, has to redeem himself before anything.

Ruby cups his face in her hands, “You’ve got this, Sam.”

He nods and grabs her hands and squeezes them. He lets go.

The first thing Sam sees upon opening the large, wooden doors is Lilith. She’s sitting, almost waiting for them, in a way. Upon seeing the two of them, Lilith stands. 

“Sam,” she purrs, “How nice of you to join me. I suppose you’re here to kill me?”

“You’re right,” Sam says, letting out a growl from low in his throat, “Why don’t we skip the pleasantries?” He flings his hand out toward her, throwing her back against the wall.

Lilith is laughing, loudly and with such vigor that Sam is thrown off for a second. Something feels _wrong_ about this. Lilith is far too happy for someone about to fail. 

Sam continues. Despite how wrong this may feel, the only way to end this is by killing her. Maybe she hadn’t been lying when she said she wanted to end this- wanted to stop breaking the seals. She wanted their heads on a plate, though, meaning that Ruby has to be a spy. Lilith would be very serious about ensuring his death after he killed her.

He very pointedly doesn’t look at Ruby.

Lilith’s body lights up, slowly but surely. It’s bright, almost like the sun, and terrifying for all of a moment before the power high reaches him and Sam feels invincible. His breath catches in his throat at the sheer power he can feel running through him, melting the ice that had previously frozen him. He watches Lilith’s body collapse to the floor and then stares in horror at what comes next.

Ruby stands, laughing, as Lilith’s blood pools on the ground and forms itself into a circle. He looks between Ruby and the slowly growing sigil.

“Good job, Sammy. Lucifer is rising.”

Sam doesn’t hesitate to hold her back when he hears footsteps enter the room. He feels her go limp in his arms and looks up to see Dean.

He isn’t sure he wants to deal with this now but, instead of worrying about it, he pulls Dean back towards the exit. 

“Lilith was the final seal, we have to get out of here!”

“I know-” 

Dean’s sentence is cut off by a bright light and what sounds like high pitched screaming. They grab each other's arms and stare in both fear and awe at the sight. Before they can decide which feeling is stronger, they’re on a plane flying over the cathedral.

Sam stares out through the window with growing horror. He did this. He killed Lilith and unleashed the Devil. He brought the end of times. If Dean couldn’t forgive him for the demon blood, there was no way that he would forgive Sam now. Sam wasn’t even sure if he could forgive himself for this.

A thought hits him from out of nowhere. “Where’s Adam?” Sam’s voice is vaguely frantic and he wants to shake the answers from his older brother.

“Right here, Big Bird,” comes a voice from the aisle.

_”Adam-”_

“Oh, don’t get all freaked out at _me_. Do you know how scared I was when I noticed you disappeared from the Panic Room? Very. You just kind of-” Adam makes a frustrated noise in the back of his throat, “I walk down there to check on you and the door’s open and the Devil’s Trap is gone, I don’t know what you were expecting me to think when you pulled that but-”

“It wasn’t on purpose.”

Dean snorts loudly and glares at Sam, “Sure it wasn’t, Sam. You’re telling me you just _happen_ to have a demon friend who was with you when I found you. What, did she not break you out?”

“I don’t know-”

“Dean,” Adam says, “shut up. Sam, you can explain when we ditch the stubborn asshole.”

“Hey!” Dean’s shout goes ignored.

“I’m sorry-”

“You better be,” Dean decides to continue on his original rant, “you let the Devil loose, Sam. Sorry isn’t quite good enough here.”

“Oh,” Adam interrupts heatedly, “and where were you when he broke out? Off getting drunk at some bar? Couldn’t handle listening to him scream after you locked him up-”

“Don’t pin that on me-”

“Why the fuck not? You locked him in there, you and Singer-”

“Why don’t you wander back into whatever picket-fence house you crawled out of?”

“Why don’t you fuck off?”

Sam’s head whips back and forth between the two as they spit insults at each other (the way they hiss and bristle reminds him of feral cats). It’s almost like watching a tennis match, the ball bouncing furiously between the players and never losing momentum. 

One second they’re sitting on the plane, arguing, and the next they’re standing in Bobby’s living room (still arguing). 

Bobby takes one look at the argument happening in front of him and goes to pour himself a drink. Sam wants to follow but he also doesn’t want to leave Adam alone with Dean. Not when they’re both likely to start throwing punches, anyway. So he stays and waits it out.

Eventually, Dean stomps out of the house and slams the door, leaving a triumphantly smirking Adam in his wake.

Bobby takes this chance to come in and ask what happened.

Adam purses his lips but explains, “You already know how Sam wasn’t in the Panic Room, so I’ll skip over that. Dean and I found him at St. Mary’s Convent- in Maryland somewhere, I wasn’t paying much attention. We didn’t get to see much, the door slammed in our faces before we could really look. When the door _does_ open back up, we run in to help Sam out and Dean just kind of stabs the brunette chick while Sam holds her back. Lilith was the final seal, I guess. I’m… not sure what happened afterwards. All I really know is that it was bright and then we were on a plane over the Convent,” Adam shrugs, “not much after that, really. Dean and I got into an argument but that’s about it.”

“Lilith was the final seal?” asks Bobby.

Sam and Adam both nod and Bobby looks both extremely angry and disappointed but, rather than say anything, he exits the room once again. 

Dean comes back in and tosses something at Sam. It’s a jacket (it’s then that Sam notices his own lack of jacket). “Get out,” Dean growls, “grab your stuff and leave. I don’t want to see you again. Not for a long time.”

Without hesitation, Sam obeys. He runs to his duffle bag (still packed) and hefts it out of the house. Adam follows behind him the whole way, not saying a word. Sam can’t tell if it’s because Adam is angry at him or at Dean.

He gets his answer when Adam is, once again, driving them both far away from Dean and Bobby. 

“You said you didn’t escape on purpose?”

“I don’t think so. I’m not sure. I woke up with Ruby bleeding into my mouth.”

Adam shakes his head, “I’m not… mad. Not really. I’m scared,” he says, flashing Sam a smile, “absolutely terrified. But, I’m not mad. Not at you, anyway.”

Sam chews his lip, “You’ve got every right to be mad, though. I _unleashed the Devil_ , I feel like that’s pretty good cause for anger.”

“Maybe,” agrees Adam, “but everybody here was manipulated, Sam. I’m not mad at you, I’m mad at whoever decided to use you like this.”

“Dean’s mad.”

“He’s mostly just mad at me, I pissed him off during our argument. He’s mad at you too, don’t get me wrong, but not _as_ mad.” Adam pats Sam on the knee. “We’ll figure this out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is shorter than usual, my cousin's birthday party is soon and I need to start getting ready. 
> 
> So, the explanation for how the plane scene went- I haven't watched season four/five in forever and totally forgot how both episodes went. Most of it was improvisation on my part but I came up with reasons for it. God was slightly more active here, he knew that the boys would encounter Zachariah if they landed with the plane so he just let them watch Lucifer's rise and then sent them to Bobby's. As for Dean kicking Sam out, not only was he still upset over Castiel's death, but he was _really_ pissed at Adam after all the arguing. He kind of reached a breaking point after everything that happened and, well, you know what happened. Bobby is just kind of done with everyone's shit tbh
> 
> If you see this on ff.net under the name KittenkatKNR, don't worry, it's me
> 
> Next chapter is Detox (Part 2) because Sam has to come down from that high sometime. At least he'll have Adam this time.
> 
> See you next week!


	16. Detox (Part 1.5)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which not only is this chapter short, but so is Adam's patience.

Adam spends about eighty percent of the next week trying to get Sam to calm down and _stop hunting_. It’s much more difficult than it had been the first time around when he hadn’t been as worried about the detox (hearing Sam scream until his voice gave out had changed his perspective a bit). 

This is, of course, Adam’s main problem; Sam is holding on to hunting like it’s a life line, the only thing holding him together (and Adam tries to understand but ending the world is such a unique experience that it’s hard to place himself into Sam’s shoes). 

“I found case up in Washington, I know it’s basically the FBI headquarters and I’m not exactly _welcome_ by the FBI-”

“Sam.”

“-But people are dying, you know? And, besides-”

“Sam.”

“It’s not even anything too difficult. A salt-and-burn at worst, judging by the deaths-”

“Sam!”

Said man adopts a startled look and looks quickly up at Adam. “Yeah?”

“It’s been a week.”

“I’ve noticed.”

“We need a place to lay low at, Sam, we can’t just stay in any old motel room while you scream your throat out.”

Sam chews lightly on his bottom lip, contemplating. “Bobby has a cabin in North Carolina, we can check with him?”

Adam doesn’t particularly like the idea but concedes that it’s better than nothing.

“Or,” comes a voice, “I can take you somewhere.”

Sam jumps up, smiling, while Adam reaches for his gun.

“Michael!”

“Samuel.” The man’s eyes scan Sam’s body (checking for injury or checking him out?), then he turns to Adam. “Adam.”

Adam nods in acknowledgment before, hesitantly, taking his hand off of his gun. “You two know each other?”

“A bit,” Sam replies, eyes still on Michael, “he’s helped me out a little, here and there.”

Michael and Sam continue to stare at each other for longer than seems absolutely necessary. Adam begins feeling uncomfortable around the ten minute mark.

“So,” he clears his throat, “you had somewhere we could stay?”

Eyes still not moving from Sam’s form, Michael speaks again, “Yes. I know a place about five miles south of here that you may stay.”

“Can we get directions?”

For the first time since his introduction, Michael turns his head to stare directly at Adam (it burns like fire, almost like this man can see Adam’s very soul; his past, present, and future all together and it’s far too intense for Adam to handle). “There’s no need for that,” Michael smiles, “Hold on.”

And they’re off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been gone for two weeks and I'm super sorry about that. Also, this chapter is short as fuck. Here's why:
> 
> Two weeks ago, my grandma got sick and my sister and I had all of our time out of school taken up with making sure she was okay and doing the work around her house and so on. She got better last week but soon after my grandpa collapsed and we had to take him to the hospital. I spent the entire week visiting him and arguing with the stupid nurse who kept saying he was covered by Keiser because he most certainly is not. He switched insurance a while back because Keiser was too expensive for something he never really used but they kept calling and saying that he was still with them. As soon as we demanded written proof that we weren't going to get a million dollar bill, they changed their minds and decided he wasn't with them. They continued this pattern all week. He was discharged recently so I haven't been as busy. I'm still busy though. Which is why this chapter is really short. My aunt, Stephany, is taking me out to look at Prom dresses and I've got a ton of projects due (I _hate_ the end of the school year).
> 
> So, I'm sorry. Updates should be back to normal by this Sunday.


	17. Interactions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Michael might have a headache and also misses his dad

Michael sits, hands placed awkwardly on his lap, in the chair by Sam Winchester’s bed. Sam hasn’t begun detoxing yet (and Father help him when it happens, Michael barely stayed out of it the first time) but it’s only a matter of time. 

There’s much to think about. Sam Winchester… isn’t Michael’s vessel. This shouldn’t upset him as much as it does and it definitely shouldn’t be keeping him from doing his job as an Archangel. 

He runs a hand through Sam’s hair.

Of course, there’s always a chance Raphael is wrong and Sam Winchester _is_ Michael’s vessel. It’s the only thing that explains his attachment to the boy and the only thing that explains his dislike, for lack of a better word, of Dean Winchester. Maybe Michael’s wrong, though. He sighs through his nose (a very human gesture, which should disturb him more than it does but he feels weighed down by his thoughts and could care less about keeping up appearances). 

Mary Winchester is dead. Michael’s father is also dead. Sam and Michael both try to follow said parent’s wish. There is no difference here.

John Winchester is dead as well, though, and Dean attempts to follow John’s wishes as well as he can.

If Michael were human this would be giving him a headache. 

_Father, help me,_ he prays, _help me understand._ There’s no answer, there never is. Michael can remember his father leaving like it happened yesterday. Nothing special had happened that day, not a thing out of the ordinary. God had just… appeared and hugged each of his children tightly, whispering a near-silent goodbye to Michael, and then he left. No other words were exchanged between the father and his children, there was no explanation. 

He misses his father. From the calm, guiding presence that taught him to fly to the fair but firm being who protected his creations. There’s something missing in Heaven that Michael isn’t sure he’s going to be able to put back. 

Sam pulls his head away from Michael’s hand. He must have pulled a bit too hard. His hand stops its death grip on Sam’s hair but continues to brush the tangles out as gently as possible.

“I’m sorry,” Michael says, and he means it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M BACK!!!
> 
> Sorry for the short chapter (everybody got a short chapter this week but, if it makes you feel any better, you guys get the longest regular chapter at about 2,000 a chapter whereas everybody else gets 1,000 a chapter). Hopefully, chapter lengths will be back to normal next week and everything will be on a proper schedule. 
> 
> I'll see you guys next week!


End file.
